The Death of a Unicorn (S13 Silvia Build)

[deolio]

Originally Posted by whosawmike

I have nothing against SRs, but I love straight sixes. At work, we refer to them as Gods engine. I am probably a little biased towards them though, as straight 6 engine development is what I do for a living.....

BTW, what is DDC?

word! that's understandable haha looking forward to it

oops meant dcc* - which is digital climate control. looks very pretty, but is somewhat of a headache to get working. just a cool oem+ thing that i feel would suit this build. pic of dcc -> s13 DCC

[TheRealSy90]

Getting rid of AC, PS, and Brake Booster is where your build will start taking a turn for the worst.

[whosawmike]

Originally Posted by TheRealSy90

Getting rid of AC, PS, and Brake Booster is where your build will start taking a turn for the worst.

Hmm. I like the look of a clean bay, but you are probably right. My goal is to keep ac. So if I give up and go the tucked bay rout, I have settled. That’s a slippery slope.

[deolio]

it’s possible to have a clean bay without sacrificing creature comforts. just takes some effort

[MattDuqueBMX]

Originally Posted by deolio

it’s possible to have a clean bay without sacrificing creature comforts. just takes some effort

Indeed! Kind of regretting taking all of that out of my hatch! (Well, not all, but not having working A/C at least).

[crash n' burn]

Bro, don't delete that shit. You'll be less prone to drive it. My a/c doesn't work consistently in my coupe, so I didn't drive it much this summer. No P/S in a street car isn't that fun either.

[CamryOnBronze]

Originally Posted by whosawmike

Thanks for that link. I will definitely be doing that in the future. I have been admiring Toby's car since I got mine. It is a bit of an inspiration for me and when the time comes for me to have some interior work done, I will surely be giving him a call. I was reading his blog one day and recognized some stuff in one of his pics. He actually lives in a neighboring town to me. I wonder if he still has anything laying around from his part out...

Also, I just glanced over your blog. Your car look awesome. I will go back and read through it when I have more free time.

Thank you! Peoria is a cool area, I took a number of trips down there to hang out with Toby and our friend Kyle (he actually works for CAT too ironically... he had a red hatch on bronze TEs a few years back) and enjoyed hanging out down there. I think Toby has unloaded pretty much everything from his part out now from my understanding, but it has been a bit since I talked to him so I could be wrong.

As for debating all of the shaved bay stuff, DON'T DO IT! I messed with all of the crap you mentioned on my car back in 2012 and I majorly regret it. Leave your heat, AC, brake lines and booster, power steering, etc. in the factory location and you will be much, much happier. That's my two cents anyway! It's the biggest thing that I hate about my car right now.

You've been blessed with an awesome opportunity in this chassis. I would try to preserve as much as possible. Still modify it by all means, but think about the long haul (if you intend to keep it, as it seems you do.)

[onehundredoctane]

Love the car! But is it really a unicorn if it's CA, Auto, and Brown interior. . . ? Seems like a budge build, and I'm looking forward to seeing progress!

[whosawmike]

Originally Posted by onehundredoctane

Love the car! But is it really a unicorn if it's CA, Auto, and Brown interior. . . ? Seems like a budge build, and I'm looking forward to seeing progress!

What?! You aren't a fan of brown interiors? I freaking love it, and the brown tinted windows.

[whosawmike]

Good evening guys.

Before I get to my tiny update, I want to let you know that I am selling most of the original stuff I have removed from the car. If you are interested in it, let me know. I am working out of an oversized one stall garage, so I don't have the space for it.

I am not shipping the big stuff, but I have:
CA18DE with the auto trans, harness, and ECM. No Leaks. Clean AF(~36k Miles)- $300
Original Exhaust
Radiator
Inlet piping including filter box
2 piece drive shaft
Fan Shroud
I have more... I think.
If you come pick it up, I'll let it ALL go for $450.

Also, I am still looking for info on the RB25 transmissions. I have money burning a hole in my pocket, and I'm itching to buy an engine. This is the last bit go info I need before I make my purchase. Please look at THIS THREAD if you can lend a hand with IDing transmissions.

Now for the update. It's small, but whatever. I dropped the S13 crossmember. I then transferred over the rack assembly to the R33 crossmember.
Out with the old

In with the new


I replaced the rack bushings with some energy bushings even though they were fine. I got the suspension put back together and she is back on all fours. I wanted to put the sweet looking syko mounts on, but the instructions recommend mounting them to the engine then dropping it in.

[signal240sx]

Hi what's up.just came across your thread.what a clean beauty....I have a 92 coupe im converting to a silvia.I am in mapleton-Peoria.would luv to check out car,exchange knowledge,and maybe even lend each other a hand if needed! Don't really know any of the few 240/silvia locals

Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk

[CompleteXen]

Originally Posted by TheRealSy90

Never been a fan of rb swaps myself, but you definitely have a clean blank slate.
Best advice I can give is do not get caught up in the build. Do the least amount of work necessary, in the cleanest or most thorough way you can.
Get it done and drive the car. Fix or modify things as you deem them necessary after driving it. One thing at at time.


It's too easy to get caught up in the build and next thing you know the car has been on jackstands for two years..
I think it's better to do one thing, finish it, and drive again.
Upgrade/Build the car one part at a time and not tear the whole thing apart with tons of different ugrades all at the same time.
But that's just me because I made the same mistake.

Probably the best advice someone can receive when jumping into a build.

I have way too many customers who come in wanting a small bit of power, they come in for a GTE swap or to install a single turbo aiming for small increase. You quickly see the builds spiral out of control, as our minds work faster than our hands.. Never limit yourself just understand to pace your build for your own enjoyment.

Clean ass car, might want to consider a 1J VVTI setup over the RB but thats just personal preference.

[afishysilvia]

Originally Posted by CamryOnBronze

Thank you! Peoria is a cool area, I took a number of trips down there to hang out with Toby and our friend Kyle (he actually works for CAT too ironically... )

No irony there man...if you live in Peoria or the surrounding areas of Illinois, you more than likely are affiliated with CAT haha.

And DEFINITELY keep the AC....that's a no brainer.

[whosawmike]

Originally Posted by signal240sx

Hi what's up.just came across your thread.what a clean beauty....I have a 92 coupe im converting to a silvia.I am in mapleton-Peoria.would luv to check out car,exchange knowledge,and maybe even lend each other a hand if needed! Don't really know any of the few 240/silvia locals

You're just down the road then! I have met a few of the S-Chassis owners in the area at the local events, but don't really know them. I would love to help with yours, and I know that I will probably need a hand with mine at some point. Maybe when its time for me to drop the new engine in.

What all are you converting? Are you doing the front end conversion or full RHD swap?

[signal240sx]

Originally Posted by whosawmike

You're just down the road then! I have met a few of the S-Chassis owners in the area at the local events, but don't really know them. I would love to help with yours, and I know that I will probably need a hand with mine at some point. Maybe when its time for me to drop the new engine in.

What all are you converting? Are you doing the front end conversion or full RHD swap?

Front end swap.and have a sr20 to drop in already.figured ill run the ka with a turbo till she blows first.have everything to do both swaps but hood.ps my car still had the fender liners too haha.

Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk

[Keegster]

If you want to look at old photobucket photos, you can google the thread and google images will still show you a low res image, it may help.

If im correct the best transmission to get is out of a r33

And I have plenty of buttons that don't do anything. Examples include, but are not limited to: AC, manual climate control doors, rear defrost, cruise control, sometimes the passenger window switch. Someone had fun with the body harness in my car.

As far as the build is progressing, I think a rb silvia is not done often at all. If you could keep the engine bay looking as oem as possible, I think it would compliment the car very nicely.

[greenwood]

why not stay ca with manual trans till it blows up?

[whosawmike]

Originally Posted by greenwood

why not stay ca with manual trans till it blows up?

Then I am adding money and time to something that I never wanted to begin with. Plus, who knows how long I could beat on that engine before it went.

[whosawmike]

Here we go!

I found an engine, but it was not local. I hope this is not going to be an issue, but none of my local-ish spots have line of sight on when they will have any. I went with a Osaka JDM out of Quebec. I've heard good things, but I'm still a little leery about buying a second hand engine sight unseen. I bought the car the same way, but this feels different. Probably because I've seen the way containers full of engines are shipped.

Anyway... It's done now, so no use fretting over it. It should be here early next week. In the mean time, I am going to work on installing the clutch peddle and master cylinder. I will also start trying to find a spot for my (admittedly too large) intercooler.

Here are some pics of the engine. I will post some more when I get eyes on it.

[afishysilvia]

Heck Yes!!! Cant wait to see this thing in action! So clean.

[whosawmike]

Well... It took a while, but the engine showed up on Tuesday. There was a problem with customs that resulted in it getting turned away.

It arrived pretty much as advertised, but the pallet it was on broke causing it to lay over and rest on the accessories during shipping. I will probably have to replace the AC compressor and the idler pulley. No big deal though.

I have started pulling it apart to clean it up and do some maintenance. There are so many damn hoses on this thing. I also want to get the valve covers painted.

I have been taking advantage of the Black Friday deals today. I ordered a Mishimoto KA radiator and the harness from Wiring Specialties.

Hopefully things will move along pretty steadily now.

[shaggyjake]

Looks like it's gonna be a sweet build. Sub'd.

[whosawmike]

Its been a while. I would like to have gotten farther than this by now, but December was crazy at work. I had the week from Christmas to New Years off, and planned on devoting a bunch of time to it between those two holidays. Then I got sick.

Anyway... Here is whats happened since the last update.

I cleaned up the engine and did some maintenance on it. I replaced the timing belt and the water pump. I replaced the accessory belts and the pulleys that were damaged in shipping. I also painted the valve covers and timing belt covers.

On the car, I installed the clutch pedal and master cylinder.



Last night, I dropped the engine into the car. That is a tight fit!!! I used the Syko mount kit, and could not be happier with the product. It lined up perfectly. The hardest part was getting it into the bay, and I imagine that it would have been much easier with another set of hands and eyes.

Here it is in the car. It was getting late, so i literally bolted it in, folded up the cherry picker, and snapped the pic.


Tonight, I am going to mount the radiator and take some measurements for fans and a shroud. I am also going to try to wire the engine. Hopefully the Wiring Specialties harness lives up to the hype and it is as easy to install as I've heard. It sure looks like its high quality.

And a little thing. This morning I ordered a 1 piece driveshaft from the Driveshaft Shop.

[greenwood]

Nice! I used top hat mounts on my rb into s13 back when they were a thing. people talked trash about their mounts, never had a problem. shrug. lol

[RVAE34]

Great swap and love the color on the vc.

[signal240sx]

Very cool!!!nice clean look bro.I'm not to far from ya if u remember.wish I coulda helped ya out with the extra eyes and hands ....if were outta the negative temps hit me up sometime ha

Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk

[cole d]

Any updates?

[afishysilvia]

Where does one acquire such a dope power wheels ? lol the camber on that is awesome

[whosawmike]

Ya... Sorry that I dropped the ball on this. My father passed unexpectedly in January, so I had a lot of family stuff going on. My wife and I also bought a new house. With that came prepping the old house to sell, and moving of course. Moving actually turned this engine swap into another chore that I had to get done before the move rather than a fun project.

Anyway, with all of that, I was lacking a bit on the documentation. Here is what I have though.

After getting the engine in and wired, I was able to do the first fire. It sprang right to life. It was a bit rough as I had no charge piping so the MAF was not seeing flow.


At this point I started planning out the charge piping. Looking at the best way to do it with the stock manifold, I saw that I was going to be cutting holes in places I didn't like. The plan was always to get a plenum at some point in the future. Because I didn't want to cut holes that were going to need to move in the future, I just ordered a plenum now.




I got the exhaust, cooling fan, and some other odds and ends buttoned up. You'll see that I am jumping the car with my daily. I was having intermittent charging issues that left me stranded on the side of the road on 2 separate occasions. I got it figured out since then. There was a loose connection on the 2 pin plug on the alternator.


Here is a clip of the first test drive. It's more of a sound clip as I was trying to drive and hold the phone. Sorry for the poor quality. The picture is after the fist drive. I dig the no hood no bumper look. lol



With all of the life stuff that came up, I did have to take some short cuts to get it on the road. I still need to set up a catch can. Right now I just have a filter on the valve cover. I also did not get the AC installed. I am ok with this. When I get the new front bumper and skirts I will need to respray the car. I want to do the bay too. Hopefully that be this winter. I will get the AC done then. I will also work on tidying up the bay. Under that manifold is a mess of cooling lines and wires.

Here is how it sits now. Someone snapped a couple pics at a meet last Friday. It is the only meet I have had time for so far.

[whosawmike]

Originally Posted by afishysilvia

Where does one acquire such a dope power wheels ? lol the camber on that is awesome

You gotta put in the work! Future plans for the power wheel are to do a 24v conversion... duh. I want to set it up to activate with a button on the steering wheel. I also want to find an old nitrous solenoid and put a fake nitrous purge on it.

I'm just having fun with this thing.

Here it is before:


Here are some more of it. My daughter loves it, but is still to small for it. She has to stand to touch the pedal, so when she hits it, she immediately looses he balance and lets off again. She'll be 2 in September, so she has plenty of time to grow into it. I plan on taking it to the next local cars and coffee meet. Start them young!